Books and Bytes
by qwerty avelat
Summary: Jamal and Rob both have exciting projects going on, plus their both suspects when the computers at the highschool of science are starting to have missing pieces. Who stole them and why? discontinued, but I plan to do another story based on the idea
1. Chapter 1

1 week ago:

Jamal walked into assembly looking nervous. It suddenly hit him that he was not with his friends. No Alex, Lenni, Tina, not even Rob. Suddenly a girl bumped into him and smirked "If it isn't Jamal. It looks like they'll let anyone in these days. Well I guess you were smart enough to catch Max Mouse…." Said Erica Dansby "spoil sport." She muttered under her breath.

Jamal couldn't resist a smile. Finally someone he knew. "I didn't know you'd be here."

"It should have been obvious. Computers are the future." She said "You going to sit down or what?"

Jamal followed her to a seat and listened to the lecture.

Today:

"Casey!" yelled Jamal "What'd I tell you about getting into my stuff!"

"Jamal no yelling in the house!" yelled his Grandmother.

"There's peanut butter all over my essay!" Jamal growled

"Casey." Said Grandma Cici disappointedly

"Sorry Jamal." Said Casey

"You better hurry if your going to print another one in time." Rob said quietly.

"Yeah yeah I'm hurrying." Jamal sighed. He grabbed a piece of toast and ran back upstairs.

"I'll walk Casey to school." Rob called "It'll give you more time."

"Thanks man!" called Jamal

"We better hurry if we're going to catch up to the others." Casey said.

Casey and Carmen walked in front of the others. Gabby and Tina chattered to each other. Lenni was trying to get the right words to her latest rap and was testing it out on Rob.

"Not bad." Rob said "But…."

"I know I know. It's missing something." Lenni sighed.

Alex groaned "I don't see how you have time. We're going to die in science today."

"Oh come on Alex; It's only a review session." Lenni laughed "It's only the second week of school how over our heads can they be yet?"

They started to disperse to their own schools. Rob walked into his homeroom and sat next to Elyse. They'd been assigned to work on their literature study project together. "How far did you get?"

"I'm done with it." Said Elyse.

"Done? With the entire book of Pride and Prejudice?" said Rob

"Yeah it was so awesome. The character development and all, it was so alive. I could not put it down." Elyse whispered excitedly "I'm going to do my part of the mural on it, when the funding goes through."

"Mural?" Rob said in a confused voice.

"Yeah, Mr. Williamson is working on a city grant to paint a mural at the park. My proposition is literature is a world of adventure. Every student could put in a book scene." Elyse said excitedly.

"That sounds cool." Rob grinned

"You ought to join us, I bet you've got tons of great ideas." Elyse said excitedly.

"I'm much better at words." Rob said sheepishly.

"You know Rob, a writer needs experience in lots of things because you draw off of your own experiences, you've heard that right?." Elyse said quickly.

Rob nodded but in the middle of his nod Elyse said "Great then I'll see you tomarrow at the meeting. Oh don't be late. Bring your sketches. I knew I could count on you. This is so exciting!"

Rob blinked a second trying to comprehend what just happened.

Jamal's face was just a grin after school. "I take it that you got into that research project?" Tina laughed.

"Yeah that or he finally got a date with Janelle." Alex laughed.

"Mr. Brinkly loved my essay. He said he had never seen a better written one. I'm on the chemistry project." Jamal said happily.

"Congratulations." Lenni said. Casey hugged Jamal.

"Yeah you deserve it." Said Gabby.

Carmen stuttered "C-co-co-con" she banged her foot on the ground and looked down embarrassed.

Suddenly Jamal's paper glowed **Good job! You will do a great job!**

"Thanks guys." Jamal said happily he wrote a thank you to Ghostwriter too.

They went marched into Jamal's house for cookies to celebrate. They all sat in Jamal's room goofing off.

"It's twice a week after school." Jamal explained to them.

"Man I wish I was good at science like you are." Alex groaned "I'm going to fail our quiz tomorrow I just know it."

"Well what is it on?" Jamal asked "Maybe I can help you out."

"It's on the scientific method. It is so boring." Lenni groaned.

Jamal grinned "but guys you should love that part."

"Why?" said Alex.

"It's a lot like solving a case. Here, look." Jamal pulled out a piece of paper.

"When we solve a case first we have to come up with suspects, you know people who might be involved and why we think they could be responsible. Well a hypothesis is like that. You try to explain something with what you know."

He wrote down "Hypothesis: like finding a suspect. You do not know if its true but you think it might be."

"After that you come up with an experiment. It's like finding evidence. If your evidence shows someone is innocent you cross them off your suspect list. If an experiment shows you hypothesis isn't right it means you need a new one. You can change it or start with a new one."

He wrote down "Experiments: collecting evidence."

"Except you can not just prove something like in a case. If the hypothesis seems to be true after a while it becomes a Theory. That means it's probably true but it needs more evidence to be sure. After it's proven over and over again it's a law. That means it is true." Jamal said "It's kind of like making sure you have enough evidence, except it takes longer."

Alex thought a minute "You know it kind of does make sense now." He smiled. "Thanks."

"Not a problem." Jamal said.

"Watch closely." Gabby said "Con-"

"C-c-con." Said Carmen

"Try saying it really fast." Tina suggested.

"Congratulations." Gabby said quickly.

"C-congwidliatilian." Carmen yelled. She turned scarlet at the attempt.

"What are you up too now?" Alex asked Gabby slightly annoyed.

"I'm teaching Carmen how to talk without stuttering and stuff." Gabby said

Casey nodded "If she talks better maybe she'll talk more."

"C-c-conwadilawin J-j-jamal." Carmen said carefully her brow furrowed.

"Thanks Carmen." Jamal laughed good naturedly, but Carmen put her head in her hands she looked upset.

"NO really Carmen." Jamal said "It was really good. I could understand what you meant to say."

He shook his head. Carmen and Casey started to write jokes to each other though.

"I didn't mean to upset her." Jamal muttered.

"I guess she's just a little sensitive about it that's all." Lenni said "I think she knows you weren't laughing at her."

"What are you drawing Rob?" said Casey

Rob turned pink now "Oh nothing."

Suddenly Carmen wrote "It's _Treasure Island_!"

"Yeah, you can tell?" Rob said excitedly. Carmen nodded and wrote "You wrote the Admiral Benbow Inn on it."

"Whoah! I didn't know you could draw at all." Gabby said "It's not half bad but it's a little crowded."

"Yeah I know." Rob said "It's going to be part of a mural they want to put in that new section of the park."

"Cool!" Alex said

"Yeah everyone is doing their favorite book." Rob said.

"You think we can all submit something from our favorite books?" Gabby asked.

"I don't see why not." Rob said "Elyse didn't say that it was only for our school."

"I'm going to do _Clifford_!" yelled Casey

"I'm going to draw _Harriet the Spy_!" Lenni said quickly.

"_Sherlock Holmes_." Alex said contemplatively "I can pick one really cool mystery but which one." He muttered to himself.

"Let's all make sketches." Said Jamal happily.


	2. Chapter 2

"Look!" said Casey excitedly

"Wow! That is a lot of puppies! What book is it?" Lenni asked

"Clifford!" Casey said in an annoyed voice

Carmen wrote "You should put it in sequence."

"Sequence?" said Casey

"Yeah its when you put things in order. What happens in the book?" Jamal asked Casey

"Well Clifford is a cute little puppy and then he gets big." Casey said "I like him being a puppy best."

"Yeah, I can tell." Gabby remarked "You don't have any big Cliffords. Why don't we write out each main part of the story?"

"Ok well first Emily gets a little puppy named Clifford." Lenni said

"But Clifford is too small so Emily Elizabeth wishes' he'll grow and he does." Casey said excitedly

"And then he's big and they have to go to the country." Tina said.

"So why don't you draw Clifford being little, then bigger and then really big moving to the country?" said Rob.

Casey smiled "Great idea. It shows every part."

"I'm going to meet Elyse at school tomorrow for the meeting." Rob said "You can bring your sketches to it if you want."

"You'll have to take mine. I have my project tomorrow." Jamal said "but we can meet up after that."

"Yeah we can meet at my house." Lenni said

"Ok." Alex said "Gabby we better go we need to work at the store."

"I've got to get home too." Tina said sadly.

Everyone left.

Lenni didn't go home. She was stuck on her latest rap. She was taking a walk to get her mind wrapped around it.

"My hope for you is that that you will be glad, not being sad not- No that's not good." She muttered.

"Hey." Victor said while running past her.

"Hey Victor." Lenni smiled.

"Can't stop see you later." Victor told her. He was obviously running for exercise. He had to stay in shape she guessed. Lenni started trying to get her beat again when suddenly she heard a tapping sound identical to her beat. She looked and saw Carmen sitting on a metal trash can while tapping another trashcan to Lenni's beat.

"Oh, hi Carmen." Lenni said.

... .. | .-.. . -. -. .. tapped Carmen. She smiled and went back to tapping the beat out and grinned at Lenni.

Lenni assumed Carmen meant for her to try words to it.

"My hope for you is that you will be glad, not being sad yeah. Hope for you today, for you always yeah because you have a lot to live for. Life is a gift you shouldn't miss, hope you will say so you got to just live it your way."

Lenni grinned "Not bad."

Carmen smiled.

Lenni's dad suddenly came by "Lenni, I've been looking for you. Your late for dinner."

Lenni looked at her watch "Man it is late! See you tomorrow Carmen!"

Carmen waved and went back to banging on the drum "My hope fow you is tat you will be g-glad!" she sang timidly "N-not being zad oh yeah."

She looked sadly as Lenni and her dad went up into their building. She turned and decided to head back towards her uncle's house. Suddenly the words off street signs swirled around.

**What is wrong?**

Carmen pulled out her notebook "Nothing." She wrote.

**You can tell me.**

"Am I a bad kid?" wrote Carmen

**No! Why would you ask that?**

"Everyone else has people who want them around except for me." Carmen wrote.

**The team wants you.**

"Yeah, but it is not the same." Carmen wrote back to Ghostwriter.

**I'm sure your family cares about you.**

"Not as much as they hate my parents. Even I don't like my parents." Carmen wrote

**It is not your fault. **

"I wish I knew why my parents left," Carmen wrote "then I could try and fix what was wrong with me." She didn't wait for Ghostwriters reply, she ran down to the park as fast as she could crying the entire way.

Soon she caught up to where Victor was now stretching.

"Hey!" Victor called to her "You feeling better now?"

Carmen stopped and nodded.

"You ok?" Victor asked her.

Carmen nodded.

Victor picked up his basketball and started to dribble it around and shot a basket. Carmen passed around a few seconds. She walked up to Victor and pointed to the ball and then herself. "Me too?" she said methodically.

Victor was surprised but passed Carmen the ball. She started dribbling the ball and gave it a shot. It went right in.

She dribbled some more circling Victor around and around as though trying to taunt him into trying to get it.

"You want a little one on one?" Victor said.

Carmen nodded.

"I'm a lot bigger then you." Victor said.

Carmen grinned "G-give me youw b-b-est showt" she said.

About an hour later Carmen was absolutely exhausted and very much creamed at basketball. The sky was getting dark. "Come on, I'll walk you home." Victor said.

Carmen shook her head.

"I live right next to your building." Victor said "Come on I bet your folks have dinner on."

Carmen was too tired to refuse so she and Victor walked home together.


	3. Chapter 3

Victor walked Carmen home. She pulled a key out of her pocket and opened the door. Victor could hear yelling inside. He took a step back "I'll see you around Carmen."

Carmen looked down at her feet.

"Hey, you know if you ever want to practice basketball I'm always having to play these days." Victor said kindly "I'm in the park almost every afternoon after practice."

Carmen nodded and smiled.

"See you later." Victor left.

Carmen waved.

"Something is very wrong with that kid." Victor thought.

The next day everyone met a Lenni's house except for Jamal and Rob. "We better hurry." Lenni said and they all trooped out the door to Robs school. The school was huge! It was an old building and they found Rob sadly perched on a statue of a lion outside. He was listening to a girl who seemed to be angry.

"Hey Rob!" yelled Alex. The gang ran over to see him.

"Hey!" Rob said perking up "Elyse these are my friends."

"A pleasure." Elyse said then turned "They can't do this. You know where all the funding went don't you! I bet it went to the science school. They get everything! It's all about technology now isn't it?"

"Hey maybe we can raise the money." Rob suggested

"How? With what?" Elyse said.

"What's going on?" Tina said

"The funding for the mural's been canceled." Rob said.

"I'm going down to the science school and give those jerks a piece of my mind!" Elyse growled "You coming Rob?"

"Maybe you ought to calm down?" Rob said "You have to think these things through."

"I'm done thinking. We need to take action now, even if I have to do it alone!" Elyse yelled and ran off.

"She seems cheery." Gabby muttered.

"She's just angry." Rob said "She'll get over it. What we need is a way to raise money."

They thought for a few minutes. "Hey let's start a book sale!" Gabby said "We could ask people to donate used books and then sell them to get the money we need!"

"Yeah, that sounds great!" Rob said "Let's go Mr. Williamson if its alright?"

Jamal had finished his orientation, now he was doing his very first titration. "Careful." Said the teacher. "Very good now add slowly. You want to stop when it first starts to turn purple."

Jamal sighed as his solution had just turned the brightest purple/pink color ever.

"It's alright. That is why we're only doing practices. Try again Jamal." The teacher said. Suddenly an older student ran in "Hey teach! Mike spilt a bunch of stuff in the supply room!"

"I told him to be careful! Jamal stay here don't touch anything." The teacher said running off.

Jamal sat down and stared at his notebook. He couldn't figure out what he did wrong. He just needed practice he guessed. The teacher returned "I'm sorry Jamal I'm afraid I can't finish the project today. Go on home we'll do some more Thursday."

"Ok," Jamal said "thanks." He picked up his backpack and left.

As he left he heard a girl screaming about funding. Suddenly he ran into Erica Dansby. "Hey watch it." She said as she almost tripped.

"I'm sorry." Jamal said helping her pick up the box of floppy discs and manuals "What are you doing here?"

"I'm in the computer science club, I'm helping catalog all the schools programs. If you must know." Erica said grumpily

"Hurry up pipsqueak!" yelled an older student

"I've got to go." Erica said "Duty calls."

Jamal walked past the biology lab where two seniors were working. They waved at him. Soon he was out of the building and on his way to Lenni's.

Everyone was there and they were all looking excited. "Look Jamal!" Cassey said holding up a poster.

"Book sale?" Jamal said

They explained. "What a great idea! We've all got books we don't really read very much and we can get new books to read while helping out a good cause." Jamal said

"Exactly what we were thinking." Alex said.

"Let me help." Jamal said. Soon they had tons of posters put together.

"Don't forget its going to be a week from now." Lenni said "On a Saturday so people can come."

They all went different ways.

"This is going to be the best ever." Casey said then stopped "But all my books are in Detroit Jamal!"

"That's ok you can share ours." Jamal said

"Yeah," Rob said "We've got lots of books."

When they walked in Grandma Cici was looking worried "Jamal, Lt. McQuade would like a word with you."

Lt. Isaiah McQuade looked grave "I'd like to talk to you about what you were doing between 3 and 4pm today. Some valuable computer parts were stolen."


End file.
